


most important meal of the day

by emmaofmisthaven



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Family Bonding, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 20:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17628836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmaofmisthaven/pseuds/emmaofmisthaven
Summary: Because Iris wants to be better for Nora, wants to change for the better, wants to prove their future isn’t set in stone. She refuses to become the woman Nora hates, refuses to become the kind of person she’s always looked down on.





	most important meal of the day

There is something in Nora’s eyes every morning, halfway between fondness and exasperation, that has Iris longing for better cooking skills. Her pancakes are lumpy or her toasts burnt or she just pours cereals in a bowl because she can’t stand another disaster, and Nora gives her the look, before she shoves food into her mouth. Always with a polite smile hiding a grimace of disgust, because future Iris might have done a lot of things wrong, but at least she raised a kid with manners. 

And it’s funny, because her lack of cooking skills never were a problem before. Barry is talented enough for the both of them, and they couldn’t care less about gender roles in their relationship. She either lets him cook or orders takeaway, and it works just fine for the two of them. Worked just fine, until know. 

Because Iris wants to be better for Nora – a better mom and a better person, the kind she and Barry had and looked up to in Joe growing up. She wants to be like that for Nora, wants to change for the better, wants to prove their future isn’t set in stone. She refuses to become the woman Nora hates, refuses to become the kind of person she’s always looked down on. 

And maybe it means asking Cecile to teach her a few easy recipes to follow. Maybe it means trying things she finds on YouTube and Pinterest, and almost burning the flat down in the process. Maybe it means Barry fondly rolling his eyes at her, because he knows exactly what she’s doing and why, and loves her all the more for it. Maybe. Perhaps. Definitely. 

It’s a slow, maddening process, but one morning she manages to make a loaf of banana bread from scratch, all by herself. She has to cut a bit of burnt crust at the bottom, but it looks otherwise edible when she puts two slices on a plate and add some fruits for colour and decoration. She also pours a glass of fresh orange juice each, for good measure, everything perfect and ready by the time Nora wakes up. 

If the way her eyes open wide in shock and wonder are anything to go by, it was totally worth it. 

“Mom, wow! It’s so schway!”

Barry tumbles down the stairs right then, fresh off the shower, his widening eyes a perfect copy of his daughter’s as he takes in the scene in front of him. “You did that yourself?”

She scoffs. “Don’t act so surprised.”

He comes next to her so he can kiss her good morning, the two of them ignoring Nora’s performative exclamation of disgust at the casual PDA. “More like impressed,” he replies simply, always falling back on his feet when it comes to her. 

“And good too!” Nora exclaims, popping a piece of banana in her mouth and chewing loudly as she adds, “Not such a lost cause after all!”

“Thanks.” Iris tries for a deadpan tone, but the smile in her voice betrays her real feelings. Barry squeezes her waist, as if having a direct line to her thoughts. Which he probably does by now, only needing one glance her way to know exactly how she feels. His own smile is soft, loving. 

He shoves an entire slice in his mouth – her husband, the barbarian – before he mumbles something about having to go to work early, and not wanting to be late, or something. Iris understands where Nora gets her table manners from. 

Barry is gone in a flash of yellow before she can call him out, and it leaves Iris facing Nora, who’s still happily stuffing her face. She grins – not such a terrible mom after all. 

“This is so good, mom,” Nora adds for emphasis. “I can’t believe Auntie Kory is the only crap one at cooking now.”

The unfamiliar name catches Iris’s attention and curiosity. Does she have another secret sibling? Does Barry? Will Nora ever not be full of mysteries?

“Auntie Kory?” she asks, failing to sound entirely too casual about it. 

Nora stops eating and stares at her, eyebrows frowned in confusion. She doesn’t move for a few seconds, before she stands up to go and fetch her journal on the coffee table. She opens it to a seemingly random page, not that Iris would know anything about that. It’s all just weird symbols to her, and everyone else beside Nora. 

She turns a few pages, before she looks back up at her mother. “Uncle Wally hasn’t met Uncle Dicky yet?”

“I–hm–what?”

Nora’s eyes widen, and then she’s gone in a flash of gold and purple. It only lasts about ten seconds, give or take, but it’s more than enough for Iris to wonder what the absolute fuck is happening and who those people she know a nothing about are. And what will happen, for those strangers to become close enough for her daughter to consider them family. 

She’s thinking of reaching for her phone and calling – Barry? Wally? someone – when Nora appears back on her chair as if nothing happened, hair a mess. 

“They’re still in Detroit but it’s fine. At least they still exist in this timeline. Would have been awkward if they didn’t.”

“Who’s  _ they, _ exactly?”

Not for the first time, Iris is reminded of how much Nora looks like her father, even if she grew up without him. Because the way she raises her shoulders to her ears and offers a forced, fake-innocent smile? That’s Barry alright when he’s done something stupid and is trying to apologise for it. 

“Spoilers?” she tries tentatively. 

Iris sighs. Nora does have a point, even though her curiosity would like some answers. But getting answers might alter the timeline, and not in a good way. Too many shots in the dark, trying to keep Barry alive, for her to want to risk it on people she will meet, eventually. 

“Fine.” Then, pointing to Nora’s plate, “Now finish your breakfast, you need strength for training today.”

She grabs Barry’s plate and her own, turning around to put them in the dishwasher along with everything she used to bake.

She’s in the middle of loading the dishwasher, so she misses Nora’s face when she says, “On a totally different note, you do know who Linda Park is, right?”

Iris is pretty sure this is related, even if she knows know why, but she doesn’t point it out. Instead she replies, “Yes, we used to work together. She’s in Coast City now, I think. Why?”

She looks over her shoulder to Nora’s beaming grin. “Can’t tell you! You’ll see! But it’s great!”

Her daughter’s joy is contagious, and Iris finds herself grinning too even though she still doesn’t have a clue what is going on. “Fine, keep your secrets.”

“I will!”

A peel of laughter escapes her even as she grabs her daughter’s plate. It is such a sharp contrast to the tense relationship of only a few weeks ago, and Iris is ever so grateful that they managed to get past it. To work toward a better future for the both of them – for their entire family. 

“Okay, ready in fifteen minutes.”

“Twenty. I need to wash my hair.”

“That’ll be five minutes lost in the speed lab.”

Nora pouts, bottom lip on display – she may be Barry’s mini me but that one is all Iris. She shouldn’t be so proud of it. She is, though. “Fine,” Nora sighs. 

She stands up, taking her journal with her. Iris thinks it’s the end of it for now, and starts cleaning up their breakfast table, but she notices Nora taking a few steps toward the stairs before she stops. Pauses. Hesitates. 

She’s in Iris’s arms before she knows it, hugging her so tightly her breath catches in her throat. It takes Iris a few seconds before she returns her daughter’s embrace, squeezing with equal strength. 

“Thank you,” Nora mumbles against her neck. 

“It’s just banana bread,” she laughs weakly. 

But they both know it’s more than that. It’s a mother’s promise to always be there for her child, no matter what. It’s an apology for letting her grief cloud her judgement and letting her broken heart dictate her actions, for letting fear get the better of her, for disappointing her daughter and the ghost of her husband. It’s a promise, to do better and be better, the person Barry married and the woman her father raised. The person Nora should be proud, not wary, of. 

It’s this, and so much more. 

“I love you, mom.”

And perhaps she holds Nora a little bit tighter, a little bit closer, even when she replies, “I know, I’m such a schway mom.”

Nora groans, for good measure. “You can’t use it as an adjective!”

“Says who?”

“Says everyone!”

“Well, everyone else is wrong.”

Nora laughs, loud and carefree and surprising to the both of us. It’s perfect. 

**Author's Note:**

> Nora calls Dick Grayson 'Uncle Dicky'. He secretly loves every second of it. That is all.
> 
> Kudos and comment if you liked it, pretty please!


End file.
